Elections Flashcards
Which amendment lowered the voting age to 18?
26th Amendment
Who was allowed to vote after the founding?
White men over 21
Some states had property requirements
What is the turnout in presidential elections?
Approx. 60%
What is the turnout in Congressional mid-term elections?
Approx. 45%
What is the turnout for local elections?
As low as 10-20%
How is turnout calculated?
Number of people who vote divided by the number of people allowed to vote
Denominator causes some issues
What is the purpose of voter registration?
Introduced in 1890
Purpose to discourage fraud and corruption
At the time it was also set up to discourage blacks and immigrants from voting
How does the registration process disadvantage certain people?
Registration office often only open on weekdays-people have to take time off work
Often far out the way so have to be able to drive
Disadvantages poorer people
Also voter ID laws used to discourage voter Fraud but ends up discouraging people from voting
What was the motor-votor bill?
Bill Clinton in 1993
Meant people could register when you get your drivers licence
Also automatically registered for next election at current registration
How many eligible unregistered voters in the US?
45 million
Mainly aged 18-29
When did the US adopt the Australian ballot method?
End of 19th century
All candidates written on 1 piece of paper, secret ballot so no intimidation
What were the McGovern Fraser reforms?
1968 democratic national convention
Made it so that all delegate selection procedures were required to be open; party leaders could no longer handpick the convention delegates in secret
Drawing electoral districts
Census taken every 10 years
States redraw district on basis of the census
Gerrymandering can occur though, drawing electoral boundaries to favour one party or groups
What’s an initiative?
Where a certain number of registered voters sign a petition which can force the government to choose either to enact a law or put it to a referendum
What’s a recall election
Where voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before their term has ended
What is a primary?
Election before an election to help party narrow list of candidates, takes place at all levels of US elections
What are delegates?
Represent the interests of group of people within a party, voting on their behalf at the national convention
How do the Democrats reward their delegates?
Use a proportional method
Assigning them to presidential nominees based on % of support throughout primaries and caucuses
How do the Republicans award their delegates?
Use ‘winner takes all’ approach
All states delegates are awarded to candidate with most votes
Pledged and bound delegates:
Pledged- Democrats
Bound- Republicans
Delegates who are required to vote for candidate the won the most votes in primaries and caucuses
Unpledged and unbound delegates
Unpledged- Democrats
Unbound- Republicans
Not required to vote for specific delegate at national convention, aka superdelegates
Result of Hunt Commission in 1982
What is an open primary?
A voter can vote for either, but not both parties
What is a closed primary?
Voter can only vote for the party with which they are registered
What is a semi-open primary?
Unregistered voter can vote for either party but registered voters have to vote for the party with which they are registered
What are caucuses?
People meet and confirm their vote in public, usually by a show of hands
Normally only registered voters
Which states still use caucuses?
Nevada
Wyoming
Iowa
North Dakota
Frontloading of primaries
Early primaries have lots of influence so everyone wants to be early
When and what is Super Tuesday?
When majority of delegates are decided
2016- 1st March
2020- 3rd March
What happens at the national convention?
Final presidential nominee is decided after delegates have casted their votes
Presidential nominee also announced who they will choose to be their Vice President
Which article of the constitution outlines the Electoral College?
Article II Section 1
How are the number of electors per state calculated for the electoral college?
Number of House of Representative seats + 2 (Number of representatives in the Senate)
How many electoral college voted do you need to become president?
270
Winner takes all system, can have majority in EC but not in the country as a whole
Clinton had nearly 3 million more votes than Trump
How much did the US spend in the 2020 election?
$14 billion!!!!
How long have PACs been around for?
Since 1940s
Given new impetus in Federal Elections Campaign Act 1972
What is a Political Action Committee (PAC)?
A political committee to raise and spend money to elect and defeat candidates
A PAC has to be set up to handle any political donations
What happened with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
2002
Tried to place restrictions on the use of PACs but it was unsuccessful
What is a Super PAC?
Type of 527 group
Can spend only on ‘independent expenditures’
Must disclose spending amount but this amount is not limited by law
What is 501(c)(4)
Supposed to be primarily social welfare organisations but can spend on campaign activity as long as:
Disclose what is spends but doesn’t have to disclose donors
